1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of ECL compatible MOS memories.
2. Prior Art
Since the early 1960's emitter-coupled logic (ECL) has become an accepted logic form particularly associated with high speed circuit operation. In the early 1970's with the introduction of ECL-10,000 circuitry, some of the earlier problems associated with ECL, such as high cost and design difficulties, generally have been overcome.
While in recent years MOS circuits, such as memories, have been fabricated which are TTL compatible, only minor inroads have been made in achieving an MOS memory which is ECL compatible. Among the problems associated with the fabrication and design of such a memory is the fact that the ECL signals are at best only a few tenths of a volt higher than the ECL reference signal. These small voltage swings are not compatible with the higher level signals associated with either n-channel or p-channel MOS circuitry.
The presently disclosed random-access memory (RAM) provides ECL compatibility, and unlike other memories does not require any high level clock input signals. Moreover, the memory appears to be static to the user since refreshing is accomplished with an asynchronous charge-pump signal generated on the memory chip.